LEAD: Bush concerned over EU plan to lift arms embargo on China

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Feb 28, 2005

BRUSSELS, Feb. 22 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING DETAILS)

U.S. President George W. Bush expressed concern Tuesday over the European Union's plan to lift its arms embargo on China.

''There is deep concern in our country that a transfer of weapons will be a transfer of technology, that it will change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan,'' Bush said at a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Bush said he discussed the issue with French President Jacques Chirac on Monday and British Prime Minister Tony Blair earlier in the day.

''They've heard the concerns of the United States. They're listening to the concerns of the administration,'' he said, adding the EU will try to develop a plan that will ease the U.S. concerns.

''It was an important dialogue. It was a very open dialogue,'' Bush said of his talks with Chirac and Blair. ''It's very constructive.'' He did not elaborate.

Bush made the remarks after a summit with NATO leaders.

The European Union imposed the arms embargo on China after its bloody crackdown against pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Bush will also discuss the issue with his European counterparts later in the day.

He thanked NATO members for their willingness to help train Iraqi security forces. France and Germany, key opponents of the Iraq war, will not send instructors to Iraq but will train Iraqi security forces outside the country or help finance the operation.

''We will have differences of opinion,'' de Hoop Scheffer said, referring to occasional transatlantic disagreements. ''But there is a lot more that we agree upon, and that is the bottom line and the basis for this great alliance.''

Bush and other leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization also talked about an expansion of NATO's presence in Afghanistan and its commitment to the Balkans as well as its engagement in the broader Middle East.

Earlier in the day, Bush also met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.